Pleating apparatus for pleating textile fabric



Jan, 28, 1958 J. H. HOWARD PLEATING APPARATUS FOR PLEATING TEXTILE FABRIC Filed Aug. 31, 41954 4 Sheets-Sheet l %r/ 7Z ZZLL 4a M Jam. 23 395% J. H. HOWARD PLEATING APPARATUS FOR 'PLEATING TEXTILE FABRIC 4 Sheets-Sheen 2 Filed Aug. 31, 1954 INVENTOR.

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' PLEATING APPARATUS FOR PLEATING TEXTILE FABRIC Filed Aug. 31, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN VEN TOR.

BYWW Wm Jan, 28, 1958 J. H. HOWARD PLEATING APPARATUS FOR PLEATING TEXTILE FABRIC Filed Aug. 31, 1954 4 Sheet s-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. a 1% M PLEATING APPARATUS FOR PLEATING TEXTEE FABRIQ John H. Howard, Edgewood, R. 1., assignor to Cranston Print Works Company, Cranston, R. 1., a corporation of Rhode island Application August 31, 1954, Serial No. 453,399

4 Claims. (Cl. 154-30) This invention relates to pleating apparatus and methods of pleating textile fabric, and more particularly to novel apparatus and methods for continuously pleating at high speed an extended Web of textile fabric, either natural, synthetic, or mixed, to provide surprisingly uniform pleats having their folds extending generally parallel to the long dimension of the fabric web.

Heretofore, the pleating of textile fabrics has been a tedious process even when performed on the best of the known pleating machinery, since all of such machinery has operated on a step by step principle to form individually each fold of a pleat by means of reciprocating folding blades. Thus, such machines not only were incapable of continuously pleating textile fabric, but they operated at an extremely slow production rate of at the most but two or three yards a minute.

Furthermore, as a practical matter, many of the most economical techniques for permanently setting fabric in pleated form could not be employed with such machines, since they were relatively mechanically complicated and, hence, not Well adapted to withstand the effects of solutions of resinous fabric-setting materials, such as are commonly employed, for example, with cotton fabrics. As a result, such machines were limited to the heat setting of thermoplastic fiber-containing fabrics, for example, nylon fabrics-all of which resulted in costly production.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus and method for continuously and rapidly pleating an extended web of textile fabric or other sheet material in a longitudinal direction, for example, at speeds as high as 50 yards a minute or even higher.

It is a feature of the invention that resinous or other setting solutions, including aqueous solutions, may freely be used during the practice thereof, so that, for example, cotton fabric impregnated with a resinous material adapted to be set or hardened as by heating or otherwise may be pleated and the pleats then made permanent to handling and washing by hardening such resinous material. Thus, the invention has made possible the economical mechanical production of permanently pleated cotton fabrics, as well as many other types of sheet material.

Still further objects and features of the invention will appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view of novel apparatus of the invention which may be employed in carrying out the method of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged end elevational view of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2 taken on the line 33 thereof;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged end elevational view of the portion of the apparatus of Fig. 3 taken on the line 4-4 of Figs. 1 and 2;

2,82LZ3'Z Patented Jan. 28, 1958 Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view of the portion of the apparatus of Fig. 3 taken on the line 5--5 of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the portion of the apparatus of Fig. 3 taken on the line 6--6 of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 7 is an end elevational view of another portion of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2, taken on the line 77 thereof; and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged isometric view of certain operating parts of the portion of the apparatus of Fig. 7.

Referring to the drawings, a machine frame It) is provided, which frame at its one end supports by means of suitable bearings 11 an input or mill roll 12 made up of an extended Web of textile fabric F to be pleated. The shaft 13 of said mill roll is provided with suitable brake means, such brake means preferably being of a hydraulic type capable of ready adjustment by means of a valve 14 to tension the fabric web F as it continuously passes through the machine, all as hereinafter more fully explained. An indicator 15 may be provided for visual indication of braking pressure. At the other end of machine frame 10 is mounted an output or batcher roll 16 in suitable bearings 17, the shaft 18 of such roll being positively driven by a motor 19 through a suitable chain drive 26). Thus, the web of fabric F may be continuously moved from mill roll 12 to batcher roll 16 and the longitudinal tension thereof may readily be controlled by brake control valve 14.

On the central portion of frame Til extending thereacross are arranged a plurality of cooperating folding elements positioned adjacent each of the surfaces of web F for continuously folding said Web in a direction parallel to its direction of movement from mill roll 12 to batcher roll 16. The folding elements, as best shown in Figs. 3 through 6, include a series of upper folding elements 22 and lower folding elements 24, such elements preferably being of generally circular cross-sectional configuration with their free ends 220 and 2411, respectively, extending in the direction of movement of web F. The upper folding elements 22 are mounted in a support member 23 extending transversely of the machine between the sides of frame 10, and extend downwardly and rearwardly. The lower folding elements 24 are similarly mounted in a supporting member 25 but extend upwardly and rearwardly. The upper and lower elements 22 and 24 act on opposite sides of the fabric web, respectively, with their respective free ends 22a and 24a in overlapping relationship both transversely of said web and perpendicular thereto to fold the web as it passes therebetween. Thus, as perhaps best shown in Fig. 3 for the simple pleat herein shown and described, each of the free ends 22a of an upper folding element 22 may be arranged beneath the free end 24a of a lower folding element 24 so that each cooperating pair of upper and lower folding elements overlaps both laterally and perpendicularly with respect to web F to provide a plurality of adjacent tilted folds at a substantial angle to the perpendicular.

In order to press the tilted folds of the web as they pass from the folding elements to form a plurality of pleats, a pressing means is provided. Such means comprises a roll 3%, preferably driven by a motor 31, and having mounted at either side thereof forward and rear pressing rods 32 and 34, so that the fabric web, as it moves from the folding members, passes in a curved path around rods 32 and 34 and roll 3% in pressure contact therewith to press fiat the tilted folds of the web to form pleats (Fig. 4). Other types of pleats than simple pleats, for example box pleats, may be provided by suitable arrangement of the cooperating folding elements 22 and 24.

In order to transversely tension the web of fabric F prior to its contact with the above-described folding mema bers, as well as to provide means for laterally positioning said web, a pair of web contacting belts are provided in advance of the folding elements. Such belts, as best shown in-Fig's. 7 and 8, include a forward belt 36 and a rear belt 46, eachof said belts being mounted on and extending between a pair of belt supporting Wheels 42 and 44-, respectively, mounted on opposite sides of frame 13 with their axes parallel to the direction of movement of web F. The outer surfaces of each of said belts is preferably provided with fabric contacting lugs 46 better to engage the upper surface of web F. The belts 36 and 46 are driven in opposite directions by means of motors 38 and 48, respectively, and preferably are tilted downwardly in the direction of movement of their lower web contacting surfaces. Thus, each of said belts contacts Web F at an outer portion thereof to move the outer portions of the web near their selvages outwardly relatively to one another to laterally tension the web. Since the belts 36 and 46 are independently driven by motors 38 and 48, their speeds may be suitably varied to laterally position as well as tension the web of fabric F.

In operation, a web of fabric F from mill roll 12 is passed through the machine beneath the lower fabric contacting surfaces of belts 36 and 46, then through the folding elements 22 and 24, next around the pressing rods 32 and 34 and roll 30, and finally is wound up on batcher roll 16. The machine is then started to continuously move web F therethrough by positively driving batcher roll 16, the web being suitably tensioned by means of brake valve 14.

As the tensioned web F is thus continuously moved through the machine, the cooperating pairs of folding elements 22 and 24 act to fold itin a direction parallel to its direction of movement to provide tilted folds by reason of the lateral overlapping of such elements and, together with pressing rods 32 and 34 and roll 30 which press downwardly said folds, to form a plurality of surprisingly uniform pleats therein extending in the direction of move ment of the web. The number and arrangement of the pleats so formed is dependent upon the number and arrangement of the folding elements 22 and 24, which elements may readily be substituted or adjusted to provide many other types of pleats than the simple pleat herein shown.

Simultaneously, lateral tension may be provided by adjusting the rate of lateral movement of belts 36 and 46, which belts not only serve to stretch the web of fabric laterally and so tension it laterally but also to laterally position it with reference to the folding elements 22 and 24 so that it will continue to feed through the folding elements generally centrally thereof.

As a specific example of the practice of my invention, 39" 80 x 80 4.00 cloth may be impregnated with the following resin mix: Triethanolamine 16 lbs.; ethylene urea formaldehyde 100 lbs.; starch 20 lbs.; glacial acetic acid 6 lbs.; water to make 100 gallons. The cloth is dried to 6 to 8% moisture and framed to 36" width on a tenter frame.

To make simple pleats in the treated cloth of one inch dimension from leading edge to leading edge (that is, pleats one inch wide), and having an underlay of threefourths of an inch, stainless steel pleating elements 75 in diameter and 4" in length are employed. These are placed in their supports in complementary pairs such that the lower elements are one inch apart center to center, as are the upper elements. The clearance between complementary pairs at the rear (where the unfolded cloth enters) is one-eighth inch, edge to edge of pleating element. The vertical spacing between complementary pleating elements at the front end of the array is threefourths inch, center to center. Using thirteen complementary pairs of pleating elements, and an indicated longitudinal tension of 75 lbs., the cloth is converted into pleated material 13" wide made up of thirteen pleats, and

having a selvage one and three-fourths inches wide on each side.

The pleated web as wound up on the batcher or output roll may be handled in any conventional manner, due to the longitudinal direction of the pleats. For instance, if the material to be pleated be treated by a resinous material adapted to be hardened as in the above example, the pleated web may thereafter be treated as by drying to harden the resin therein to provide pleats permanent to Washing.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a novel apparatus and method for continuously pleating textile fabric to provide uniform longitudinally extending pleats therein. Various modifications of the invention may be made within the spirit thereof and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A pleating machine for continuously pleating an extended web of textile fabric in a direction longitudinally thereof comprising web driving and tensioning means for continuously moving and longitudinally tensioning an extended web of textile fabric, folding means for contlnuously folding said tensioned web to form a plurality of longitudinally extending pleats therein, said latter means comprising a plurality of cooperating folding elements positioned adjacent each of the side surfaces of said web, said elements on opposite sides of said web having their free ends in overlapping relationship both transversely of said web and perpendicular thereto, pressing means following said folding means for pressing the pleats formed by said folding means, and lateral tensioning and-web selvage directing means positioned in advance of said folding means for transversely tensioning and positioning said web, said lateral tensioning and web selvage directing means positioned in advance of said folding means for transversely positioning said web including a pair of web contacting belt means adapted to be moved in opposite directions to contact said web at the outer portions thereof, the surfaces of said belt means each being arranged to contact opposite side portions of said web to move said side portions outwardly relatively to one another to laterally tension and position said web, and means for moving said belt means at speeds independent of one another to laterally position said web.

2. A pleating machine for continuously pleating an extended web of textile fabric in a direction longitudinally thereof comprising web driving and tensioning means for continuously moving and longitudinally tensioning an extended web of textile fabric, folding means for continuously folding said tensioned web to form a plurality of longitudinally extending pleats therein, and lateral tensioning and web selvage directing means positioned in advance of said folding means for transversely tensioning and positioning said web, said lateral tensioning and web selvage directing means including a pair of web contacting belt means adapted to be moved in opposite directions to contact said web at the outer portions thereof, the surfaces of said belt means each being arranged to contact opposite side portions of said web to move said side portions outwardly relatively to one another to laterally tension and position said web, and means for moving said belt means at speeds independent of one another to laterally position said web.

3. A pleating machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein said belt means includes lug means for contacting said web.

4. A pleating machine for continuously pleating an extended web of textile fabric in a direction longitudinally thereof comprising web driving and tensioning means for continuously moving and longitudinally tensioning an extended web of textile fabric, folding means for continuously folding said tensioned .web to form a plurality of longitudinally extending pleats therein, ,and'lateral tensioning and web selvage directing means positioned in advance of said folding means for transversely tensioning and positioning said web, said lateral tensioning and web selvage directing means including a pair of web contacting means adapted to be moved in opposite directions transversely to the direction of movement of said web to contact opposite side portions of said web to move said side portions outwardly relatively to one another to laterally tension and position said web, and means for moving said web contacting means independently of one another to laterally position said web.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Allen Sept. 22, Sieg June 23, Davis Sept. 14, Jones Nov. 30, 

